‘Chinese Downton’ spreads soft power in Asia

Asia Correspondent THE success of a Chinese historical period drama about scheming imperial concubines in a Qing dynasty palace has been celebrated as a breakthrough in the spread of China’s cultural influence across Asia.

Story of Yanxi Palace, a 70-episode tale of a sharp-witted maidservant investigating the death of her sister in the backdrop of the treacherous royal court, last week reached a record 530million viewers on streaming platform iQiyi.

The popularity of the show, which has been compared to Downton Abbey. has now been hailed for its reach abroad, where China’s cultural exports often struggle to break through South Korean and Japanese influence.

“Huge hit dramas in the Chinese mainland such as Story of Yanxi Palace and Legend of Fuyao [a period romance] are also seeing great success in … overseas markets,” Global Times, a Chinese tabloid known for its nationalistic tone said. “The rise in popularity of Chinese dramas among overseas audiences has been significant, especially over the past two years, which has increased demand for these shows in overseas markets.”

In the absence of English subtitles, the paper said comments under the programme’s YouTube trailers have begged for translations.

Story of Yanxi Palace has generated 5.6billion views since it was released last month, reeling in 130million views per episode with plot lines including a jealous concubine destroying the emperor’s lychee trees and blaming it on a rival’s Pekinese dog, reported the South China Morning Post.

By contrast, House of Cards had an average viewership of 4.6 million in September last year on Netflix.

Vietnamese pirates who obtained episodes of Story of Yanxi Palace before its release will only let viewers watch them if they say Vietnam controls disputed islands.